How Fox Valley Technical College Uses Tassel to Put Students First

For Lauren Gaecke, Assistant Registrar for Graduation at Fox Valley Technical College, graduation isn’t just a ceremony. It’s the culmination of years of hard work for students who often face more obstacles than most. Lauren has been planning commencement at her institution twice a year for three years, and Tassel has been part of the picture the entire time. We sat down with Lauren to hear how the platform has shaped the way her team plans, communicates, and celebrates graduation day.

A Different Kind of Graduation

Lauren’s college isn’t your typical four‑year institution. As a technical college, it serves a large population of non‑traditional and first‑generation students, many of whom are also working adults or caregivers. That shapes everything about how commencement is designed.

“We have a lot more non‑traditional students or lower income first generation. We’ll have people whose kids and grandkids come to see them graduate. And it’s just such a special day.”

That sense of purpose drives every decision; from the way the stage is arranged to the tools Lauren’s team uses to manage the day. “I changed a little bit of our staging to be sure that when the students are coming up to get their diploma, they’re front and center,” she says. “I just want it to be completely focused on them.”

Simplifying the Day‑to‑Day

Before Tassel, Lauren came from a background of four‑year institutions where everything was manual: alphabetized name lists, paper RSVP tracking, live name readings with no safety net. The contrast with what Tassel offers has been significant.

“I’m not having to manually check off lists for RSVPs,” Lauren explains. “It’s really made everything easier, tracking it all in one place.”

Communication is another area where Tassel has changed how Lauren operates. Rather than relying solely on formal emails that students may never open, she now reaches graduates directly through the platform’s text messaging feature.

“I assume they don’t read my emails, so I use the email feature throughout the semester to give them the main updates… but then the week‑of, I text them every single day with things like ‘don’t forget your tassel when you come’ or whatever they might need. We use it a lot.”

The Moment a Name Is Called

For many graduates, hearing their name announced as they cross the stage is one of the most anticipated moments of the day. Lauren has seen firsthand how much is riding on that single moment.

“I’ve seen the devastated look on students' faces during a live name reading when their name is mispronounced and that was their moment.”

Tassel’s name pronunciation feature gives students influence over that moment. They can review phonetic spelling, listen to the recording of their name, and make corrections before the ceremony. “At least they have the opportunity to see the phonetic spelling and hear that pre‑AI recording,” Lauren says. “They have the option to go in there and check. It's been a really good experience, as far as making sure that they're getting everything they need.”

The result? Silence. And in this case, silence is a good thing. “You hear about it when it doesn’t go well,” Lauren notes. “I have not heard any complaints.”

Giving Back to Graduates

A new feature Lauren was excited to pilot was Tassel’s graduate gifting pages, which allow students to share their milestone with friends and family online and receive cash gifts directly via Venmo. For a school where some students tend to face more financial obstacles, this new feature has the potential to add tremendous benefits, putting money in their pockets at a time of transition and uncertainty.

At first, Lauren was skeptical about trying it. She wanted to make sure the students would be getting 100% of the gifts they collected from the site.

“When we learned there was no overhead fee (for the students), that’s why we really agreed to it, because I didn’t want to give any sort of perception that FVTC would take a percentage of a $25 gift from grandma.”

This was an important point for Tassel when launching this new feature, too. It was built around a straightforward belief: that graduation is already expensive enough, and any tool that can give back to students without adding work for coordinators is worth having. Lauren's pilot asked nothing of her team and still delivered real results for the students who found it.

Even in a soft launch with no marketing push, around 40 students from FVTC created announcements for the December ceremony. Of those, about half activated their Venmo links and received gifts.

Letting Students Speak

This past fall was the first time Lauren used Tassel’s post‑ceremony survey feature. Her goal was simple: understand what students are actually connecting with, not just what the planning team assumes is working. The team built a positive focused survey in an attempt to capture what students find meaningful and build upon that.

The results were eye‑opening. Students shared that they preferred printed stage passes over digital ones (the gowns have no pockets for phones), that arriving early felt like a burden, and that they wanted some form of rehearsal guidance. That last piece of feedback led Lauren to make a long‑held idea a reality.

“I’ve had this dream since I started of ‘I’m going to make a video rehearsal; I’m going to get our president to make this video.’ We got the survey feedback and so I went to our AV team and asked if they can help, and they’re working on making that now.”

Having real student data behind a request like that also made it easier to get buy‑in from other teams on campus. “It’s great to have the evidence when you’re asking other teams for buy‑in,” Lauren reflects.

No Going Back

After six ceremonies with Tassel, Lauren is candid about what it would mean to plan graduation without it.

“It would be really hard for me to go to a school that doesn’t have software like this now. I did so many years without software. That would be a hard pivot back.”

Her long‑term vision is simple: a graduation experience where students can do everything in one place, from tickets to regalia to announcements. “As you keep putting out features that benefit the students, I can see wanting to continue to figure out how to incorporate them,” she says. “I feel like we’re moving in that direction, which I really like.”

For Lauren and her students, graduation is so much more than a ceremony. It’s a culmination. And with the right tools in place, it can be exactly the moment every graduate deserves.